Spirited Away 2 - The flow of memories
by Tsuzuku Mori
Summary: Set a year after the film. Chihiro's memories haven't come back, nor has Haku. However she still has a role to play in the Spirit World. If only she could remember its existence...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! Welcome to my first fanfiction. I hope you like it :) I spent a lot of time studying the lore so as to preserve the film's identity. - also I live in France so my english may be a bit weird from time to time ;)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **SPIRITED AWAY 2: THE FLOW OF MEMORIES**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Japan, 2002.**

"Everything that happens stays inside you even if you can't remember it."

A girl woke up out of a recurring dream; she was in her room at her desk, where she had been working all afternoon. Up until recently she wouldn't have been working in such a manner, but a year ago something changed in her, although change, she felt, was not the appropriate word. It would be more accurate to say that something within her, that had always been there, emerged. She of course had no idea what had happened to her and she attributed these changes in her character to growing and entering teenagehood. After all she was nearly twelve, and even so what other explanation could there be?

She was working at her desk, filing a form for her school. Her school was fairly average, nothing particular distinguished it from any other, in that regard it was not different from her previous school, the memory of wich was slowly fading, only maintained by a card that had been given to her by her former classmates, attached to the wall in front of her. On the form, she wrote her name: Chihiro Ogino.

This particular evening though, she was finding it difficult to work. She had stopped writing and had started daydreaming, a habit of hers – her mind seemed to not be content with the world it was in and felt the need to create other ones of more exciting nature, as if it had known such worlds and was craving for more. At the same time her eyes wandered across her soulless room, desperate for something that would trigger her imagination. Suddenly her gaze got caught up by a shinning object: a purple headband. It was one of the most mysterious objects in her possession, not because of one of its features (it was not particulary well made) but because she could not seem to recall where she had gotten it – and despite that she was very attached to it. It was one her most prized possessions, only with it did she feel she really was herself.

Chihiro took the hair-band and used it to attach her long brown hair together. She now felt the urge to go outside, escape her dull room. She new that when she felt like this, there was no point trying to do anything else. She changed out of her school uniform into her green and white jumper and discreetely she left her house and set to the location of her favourite place.

* * *

 **All comments, and constructive criticism, are very much appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**SPIRITED AWAY 2 - The flow of memories**

 **Chapter 2 – A favourite place**

Chihiro walked for a few minutes after passing through a few housing estates and a couple rivers – although one had not flown in a long time. She arrived at her destination: the top of a small cliff covered in conrete, hidden from civilisation by trees and an abandoned building with a view on a valley. Chihiro's town was situated on a hill and at the bottom of the hill there was a forest with a barely used road that went into it. Chihiro's favourite place, one could say her hideout, enabled her to see this forest from a certain height. She liked watching the forest from this spot, especially as the sun was setting, and in the night when the trees would only be visible in the moonlight; then she would sit on a quite comfortable rock in total solitude. A solitude she had grown to learn to live with, as her parents who lived in the same house as her, mostly concerned about themselves, seemed to only superficially acknowledge her existence. In this place she was still in the human world, but no human were to be seen; what was to be seen was the forest that led to the spirit world, but she wasn't in it. Unknowingly, she had chosen a place which was a metaphor for her own situation.

Why did she like watching the forest so much ? Like many things about herself, she didn't know, or more to the point she knew something: it was that she had changed for an unknown reason about a year ago. She wasn't sure why; it could just be that her growing up had been accelerated because of the shock that was changing towns. But Chihiro did not believe that. She had another theory: a year ago, when she moved into the town, an incident happened; she and her family had spent three days in it without realizing it. Three days had vanished from their minds – this had to be linked with all the changes in her character, in some way or another.

This meant that she was attracted to the forest. Something in her really wanted to visit it and discover all of its secrets and answers; it seemed to her like there was a whole word inside it, only waiting for her to enter it in order to exist. But at the same time it terrified her, as if a danger she could not understand lurked in the shadows of the trees, as if terrible things would happen to her and to those she loved if she went into the forest. So much so that the only time she had been in it was with her family, the day she moved into her knew house, a year ago. Although how could one blame her? Last time she and her family went in the forest, three days simply disappeared. Chihiro still remembered her confused mother calling the moving company, trying to make sense of what had happened. All this meant that she had contradicting feelings about the forest, and they were what made Chihiro watch the forest on a regular basis, but only from a certain height and distance.

Every time she saw the forest, she wanted to visit it even more, but her terror remained constant. However, this evening was different; she felt a bolt of courage running through her body as the forest seemed to call her more than ever. After a long hesitation she set out to do what she hadn't dared to do since she had moved into this neighbourhood: she followed the road that entered the forest.

Coincidentally, this evening also marked the one year anniversary of her arrival in the Spirit world.

* * *

 **All comments and constructive criticism are very much appreciated !**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – The tunnel**

Chihiro climbed down from her secret place to the unused road leading to the forest. She started to follow it. She entered the forest more determined and more scared than ever. She passed in front of abandoned old shrines that looked like small houses. Suddenly images ran through her mind, flashes, memories perhaps? In them she heared herself asking:

"What are those things?"

And her mother anwering:

"Houses for the guardian spirits."

The recollections were too real to just be figments of her imagination, they had to be true. They must have been from the last time she came, a year ago. She walked for quite a long time, in the dark, some kind of unknown strength enabling her to continue without turning back. Her mind was burning, as if it was failing to remember something it desperatly knew it had to recall. As if it knew something was there but always out of its reach. Perhaps the answer to what had happened during the three days the memory of which she had lost. Chihiro had had this feeling before in the last months, but never so vividly. She let out a cry as she saw in the distance the statue of a so-called guardian spirit that she mistook for someone. Finally she arrived in front of a tunnel covered in vegetation. It was made of brown bricks that at the entrance created an arch. In front of this tunnel was another statue of a guardian spirit.

Chihiro could just feel that it was what was behind this place that had been calling her. Determined, she took a deep breath and entered the tunnel. She slowly walked through it; it was dark and damp, until she arrived at a dead end – part of the tunnel had collapsed.

Disappointed she turned back. For some reason she was sure that what was behind that tunnel would be able to help her understand why she was so attracted to the forest, and even more, what had happened the previous year.

As she came back out of the tunnel, she nearly had a heart attack as her eyes distinguished a figure in the dark.

"Lost, are we?"

The voice belonged to an old lady, although Chihiro did not recognize her, she seemed familiar. Out of this familiarity, and almost as if under a spell, Chihiro felt she could trust this person whose face she could not even see.

"I am not lost, I am searching for something, I'm not sure what, but I thought I would find it behind that tunnel. I'm fairly sure it is something I once knew but I seem to have forgotten it."

The old lady studied Chihiro for a bit.

"Perhaps you are not ready to find what you are seeking. It is after all difficult to find something when you do not know what you are looking for."

She paused.

"Don't worry, you should be able to find what you are looking for, if you are right in thinking that you once knew what it is. For I believe.." She stared at Chihiro's purple headband. "...that everything that happens stays inside of you, even if you can't remember it."

Having said that she left and quickly disappeared, leaving behind her a very confused twelve year old girl. Chihiro stood motionless and speechless for a while, and then returned to her home, her mind was burning.

* * *

 **All reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated !**


	4. Chapter 4

**4 – Memories back**

Chihiro woke up tired; she had had weird dreams that seemed so real they woke her up sweating several times. She had dreamt of faceless beings eating everything in sight, witches who turned her into a pig, a dragon being attacked by paper beings... Her memories from her stay to the spirit world seemed to be stuck in her subconscious and through dreams desperatly tried to reach her consciousness. But to Chihiro, these dreams, and however realistic they seemed, were just that, dreams, in no way what had really happened to her. Her head was burning; what the mysterious figure had told her had obviously triggered something in her mind that she it desperatly trying to access, but it couldn't. As the day went on, she was surprised by the fact that the memories of the dreams remained – usually, and like most people, she would forget her dreams within minutes after waking up. These strange and disturbing dreams were staying in her mind during, images from which were flashing, stopping her from focusing on what was really in front of her: her school lessons were on this day especially hard to follow.

Walking back from school, she decided to go to her favourite place. That was unusual of her to go there without having worked before, but her head wouldn't let her do any work in any shape or form. To go to her favourite place she had to cross a couple rivers. However when she arrived there, the little bridge she would use to cross the river had disappeared. If her mind had been in its normal state, Chihiro might have spent a long time trying to understand just how a bridge would simply disappear – instead she looked for a way to cross the river. She saw a few black rocks on which she could jump in order to cross the river. Unfortunatly for her, she had underestimated how slippery the rocks were, and so she slipped and her left shoe fell into the water. Without thinking about it she jumped into the freezing water to catch it. Struggling against the strong current and nearly drowning she managed to catch her shoe and get out of the water. Whilst she was walking in her wet clothes to her favourite place, she felt like what had happened, had happened already before, but slightly differently.

And then she remembered falling and drowning in a river for the same reason when she was little.

And the she remembered being saved.

And the she remembered who had saved her, she remembered Haku.

 **She remembered Haku...**

Once she remembered him, all of her other memories came back.

* * *

 **All comments and constructive criticism have been and are very much appreciated** !


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Through the tunnel again.**

As soon as her memories came back, Chihiro ran towards the entrance of the tunnel. As she arrived, she stopped in front of it, she was sweating from running this fast. She looked at the tunnel: it was different from the last time she saw it. It was covered with vines and all sorts of vegetation, this time the red construction was visible without any kind of vegetation on it.

She started walking towards the entrance but stopped. In her exitement, she had forgotten that the Spirit World was no place for her, that it was dangerous and that she would probably disappear if she failed to eat any food that came from it, but eating said food could end up having her turn into a pig – like her parents had been a year before.

But Haku had told her he would see her again, and that he should be able to free himself from the grasp of Yubaba. A year had passed and there had been no sign of him, not from his human form, dragon form, or even from any rivers. She had to go and see him, at least to see if he was alright – so she decided to advance, a decision biased by the demands of her love for him.

She stepped through the tunnel; this time, it wasn't blocked, and she arrived in an austere looking building. The inside was comprised only of a hall with benches against the walls, numerous pillars and small multy coloured glass circular windows. She walked through it, reminiscing the events that had transpired a year prior. She arrived outside in a big green grass field. As her eyes got used to the light, she distinguished on the horizon the town in which she had lived for three days. In between it and her was a small stream. Suddenly she saw something fly towards her, a boy, and land on the opposit side of the stream. It was Haku; it looked like he was waiting for her.

* * *

 **All comments and construtive criticism are very much appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Many happy reunions**

Haku and Chihiro were holding each other tightly in their arms, both happy beyond measure. Haku looked almost exactly how he did when Chihiro met him – the only thing that had changed was that he looked a bit older. This came as a relief to Chihiro as she had been wondering if rivers aged – she knew so little about the spirit world.

"I missed you," Haku said.

"I'm sorry I had forgotten you," Chihiro said with a bit of guilt.

"How could you have, you experienced what you humans call a Kamikakushi: you were swept from your world into ours and then left. The rule is that you can't be allowed to leave with memories of this world. However there is always a possibility to remember on your own, although that hardly ever happens." He looked at her hairband "You must have had some help." He looked behind Chihiro and said, "I need to thank you."

Chihiro looked behind her to see to who Haku was talking to. She gasped as she thought she saw Yubaba, but she quickly understood that it was her twin sister Zeniba.

"No need to," she replied. "I mainly did it to bother my sister," she lied. Haku knew that the witch had grown to care about Chihiro. She had been his greatest support during the year that had passed. "Besides, this girl had what it takes to come back here, I merely accelerated the whole process. If it hadn't been the case I would not have been able to help, it would have been against the rules. Still, I had to wait a year, and what I was allowed to do was very limited."

Chihiro hugged Zeniba as she understood all that she had done for her, giving her a memento of the spirit world in the shape of the hairband, giving her clues concerning her capacity to remember forgotten things... She was truely grateful. It had been a long time since she had acted so passionatly; during the last year nothing had really excited her, she always was always feeling that she wasn't really concerned with what was happening around her. But for the first time in too long, she showed genuine happiness and gratitude. So much so that questions such as what was going to happen to them or what was Yubaba doing, did not even cross her mind...

Zeniba disappeared after wishing them both good luck. Haku took Chihiro's hand and took her through the town to the bath house and down into the boiler room where all of Kamaji's arms greeted Chihiro.

Soon after Lin arrived to feed the sootballs and she hugged Chihiro. "I'm so happy for both of you !" she said, tears of happiness dropping through her face, tears that soon became tears of sadness. "I suppose it means that Haku will now be able to leave then." She looked at Haku who nodded. It would seem that she had grown to like him during the past year "You'll sneak in and visit won't you ?"

"As often as possible," Haku promised. He looked at Chihiro. "It is true that, thanks to you, I am free to leave... leave with you if you won't mind." A faint blush appeared on his pale face.

Chihiro nodded, but was also looking a bit confused.

"But before all that, you may want a few explanations," Haku declared.

* * *

 **All comments and constructive criticism are very much appreciated !**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – What happened**

 **A year ago.**

Chihiro had just left. People were still partying, celebrating Chihiro's success in leaving Yubaba's grip. Haku walked back to the bridge where Yubaba was. He walked to Yubaba who was catching up with her son. He stopped and said.

« _Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi"_

Yubaba slowly turned in anger.

"This is my name isn't it?" he stated.

Her visible anger answered instead of her voice.

"That girl, how did she do it?" She mumbled.

"You know what this means, don't you? And don't try and control me so I change my mind, Chihiro stepped on your bug."

Yubaba tried to keep her composure, a lot of her employees were looking, she had to show them she was on top of the situation.

"So you wish to leave my services"

"Yes"

"And, as our rule demands it, go through a test, the success of which depends your freedom"

"It is as you say"

Yubaba took one of her cigarets, lit it using magic, inhaled slowly.

"This is my test" As you have your share of credit regarding Chihiro being able to leave this place, if you are to leave it, it will be because of her actions. So this girl who you told not to look back and who by now has forgotten you, she must come back here with the explicit intent of finding you. If she does this you will be free to go.

Haku looked surprised by this choice, shut his eyes for a minute, then said :

« I have confidence in her »

 **A year later.**

Yubaba was in her office working , suddenly a contract on her desk exploded, it was Haku's. She had lost. She didn't get angry like she would have a year before, her child had been doing wonders to her temper. Half a mile away from her, Chihiro and Haku were leaving the Spirit World, holding hands, together.

* * *

 **All reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated !**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Return to the human world/epilogue.**

School had ended and Chihiro had spent an acceptable amount of time working at home. This meant she could leave the house without her parents bothering her, not that they usually cared anyway... Although, even them had noticed that she had been different for a few weeks: life seemed to run once again through her veins. Quite obviously what had happened a year ago that made her change was not in effect anymore. Of course, they couldn't know what had really happened, but they had at least managed to link her behaviour with the three day disapearance incident. Although, when they had confronted her with this incident, she genuinly didn't seem to know more about it than they did...

Chihiro ran towards her favourite place. She ran across the first river, but she stopped next to the second – newly revigorated – river almost as to say hi. She arrived to the place and sat on a rock. She waited a bit. A boy arrived, water dripping off his clothes, and sat next to her.

* * *

 **All comment and constructive criticism are very much appreciated !**


End file.
